As mentioned in this previous blog post, Dr. Kim Williams, the next president of the American College of Cardiology and a top cardiologist in the U.S., turned to a vegan diet to reduce LDL cholesterol. Due to his health improvements after switching, he now recommends the diet to his patients. The Chicago Tribune wrote an article about it with more relevant quotes from Dr. Williams which are highlighted here.

"Anything someone does to move away from the Standard American Diet will make a huge difference in terms of diabetes, hypertension, obesity and heart disease," said Williams, referring to the nation's high consumption of sugar, saturated fat and processed foods.

"Given the health implications of diet, putting the issue [of considering alternative diets like veganism] in front of people who live with an epidemic of heart disease is not a bad thing," he added.

"The day that there is similar data on the dangers of processed soy as there is on processed meat, I will drop it like a hot potato, or perhaps just eat the potato," Williams wrote in defense of his essay.

Dr. Williams is not the only cardiologist to recommend the vegan diet as a way to improve the condition of one's heart. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., a cardiologist and cardiovascular surgeon at the esteemed Cleveland Clinic, one of the top four hospitals in the U.S., asserts that heart disease can be reversed and need not ever exist in this article.

The truth be told, coronary artery disease, the most common form of heart disease which is responsible for heart attacks need never exist and if it does exist, it need never progress. - Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. Source

Dr. Esselstyn prescribes the vegan diet as a cure for heart disease and also recommends removing as much oil from one's diet as possible. After conducting studies in the '80s by putting patients on plant-based diets, he found the following results.

The goal was to remove every last morsel of animal food, dairy, processed flour, and oils that were causing the disease and to eat a diet of vegetables, fruit, legumes and whole grains,In all compliant patients results were prompt and enduring. Angina heart pain diminished or disappeared as cholesterol levels promptly lowered and both physicians found that x-rays of the hearts’ arteries confirmed the disease could be reversed.

Most importantly, there are no side-effects from or cost to going vegan compared to surgery and medication. It's nice to see the top doctors in this field recommending alternative ways to heal and prevent chronic heart disease by promoting plant-based diets as the powerful remedy available to everyone!

At a recent barbecue in Brooklyn, N.Y., a half-dozen guys who resist that particular cultural stereotype gathered together. Many of them are muscled semi-professional athletes, including triathlete Dominic Thompson, competitive bodybuilder Giacomo Marchese and mixed martial arts fighter Cornell Ward.They're also all vegans and eschew all animal products. Because these guys are so seriously, well, built, they say some people find it hard to believe they never eat meat, fish, dairy or eggs. Source

According to this article from NPR in Boston, several high performance super-strong athletes gathered in Brooklyn for a vegan BBQ. All are already vegan and are intent on saving the planet, not with their brawn, but with their forks! At the same time they are dispelling the perception that going vegan is not masculine. In fact, they are demonstrating that being concerned about health, animal welfare, and the sustainability of the planet is a macho thing to do! Most importantly, anyone can join them!

In this article from MedPage Today, Dr. Kim A. Williams, a cardiologist and the next president of the American College of Cardiology, describes his transition to a vegan diet after being inspired by a patient who reversed a severe cardio condition by following Dr. Dean Ornish's "Reversing Heart Disease" program by adopting a plant-based diet. As the quoted text above explains, he was able to do the same thing by going vegan and improving the health of his heart. Now he recommends the diet to his patients and offer advice on how to replace meat, dairy, and eggs in their diets. He hopes that the vegan diet will gain wider acceptance as a treatment and prevention method for people at risk for cardiovascular diseases even though the American Heart Association still has not formally recommended the diet to its members. Dr. Williams finishes the article by saying:

Wouldn't it be a laudable goal of the American College of Cardiology to put ourselves out of business within a generation or two? We have come a long way in prevention of cardiovascular disease, but we still have a long way to go. Improving our lifestyles with improved diet and exercise will help us get there.

As a sign of the urban farm trend, the USA pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015 will showcase a building that grows crops on the exterior of the structure. The food themed expo will be exemplified in this pavilion among others according to this article from Gizmodo and may provide a glimpse of the future of hydroponic farms. As urban planners think about ways to improve food security and self-sufficiency, along with restaurants and institutions starting to grow their own food, this may be an example of things to come.

Sometimes, only those who are vegetarian or vegan can understand how certain situations may delight or aggravate their plant-based peers. This light-hearted article from the Helsinki Times lists eight such things including:

2. Only another vegetarian can understand why you would send pictures with your phone from the store to friends after discovering a new vegan-friendly product on the shelf. Source